Jake Dycus's Page

Sort of like when the air masks on a flight drop down, and they tell you must put your own on first before you can help even your wife/husband/children or neighbor, we must also first guard our own hearts. Your transition time will especially be in danger.

One of the things I've noticed people do is to replace one substitute foundation for another substitute--often based on some "issue" and not really on Jesus. For some, this can be emphasizing one issue above everything else in their walk, things like family-friendly, house church, reformed, the-church-you-attend, gifts, church planting, no leadership, or something similar. Rather than thier attention being on Jesus, these issues become what they base their fellowship on, their attention on, and their energy on. You can easily see this by what they spend their time talking about and who they will and won't care for in the Body.

If Jesus is your foundation, all of these sub-issues do not become barriers to other saints or idolatries in your heart's affections.

We get together Sunday mornings. Everyone sits together with their kids and all for the whole time (about 3 1/2 hours). At ten, one of the men will share a an extended time of teaching for about an hour. It is usually interactive, where questions can be asked, comments added, etc.

Then we spend another fully open hour. Some time is spent where anyone can comment on or extend the teaching, or share about anything else they are learning/experiencing the past week. Some bring short teachings. There is some time singing, praying for one another and sharing needs, and having the Lord's supper.

After this, we spend about another hour and a half or so with a shared potluck meal. Pretty nice spread. After eating, the adults sit around and talk or get into discussions; the kids go outside in the playground or they play soccer. Sometimes they'll play until after three PM.

We are about 100 people or so, counting the kids. Last year, we split off one group to let them begin a new fellowship nearer where they lived. This year we will be doing that again, maybe into two or three fellowships. At this size, we have rented a school cafeteria to meet in. We also have used homes.

During the week, families get together often, to share a meal, or just to visit, or to help with one project or another. Most families here home school, and there is some activity around that most weeks.

At first, I was totally happy as a member of a medium sized church. I dug into the word with delight. I taught SS classes, evangelism classes, my wife and I drove buses, did VBA, went to retirement homes, shelters for the poor, etc. Every week we sat quietly in the pews, astonished at the preacher's vast knowledge of scripture. We attended Sun AM, PM and Wed evenings. A lot was good.

As time went on, it started to dawn on me that there were big disconnects between what I saw in everyday Christianity and what I read in scripture. I started to see politics and egos. But worse, I saw scripture being ignored, rejected. It took awhile to get all the pieces pulled apart. Back then, the groups I became part of didn't have the "house church" models (for which I'm thankful). We didn't know what we were. It took awhile for all the changes to make sense, to begin to align up with scripture. That was mid 70's.

I'm not "out of the Institutional church" (but I understand how you mean to use that phrase). There is only one church. I am part of them, and they, of me. I just don't follow the same patterns and traditions, but I'm sure I have my own blindsides. I am responsible to them, to love them and care for every saint. I am in no way "out of them." I cannot cast my back to His own saints.

As to participation, people need to discover that it is safe to open up, to share, to let others in. We are a very lonely, isolated culture. We are adept at putting on masks and controlling the image we want to present to the world. This is an "out of comfort zone" area, where we don't know quite wnat is OK, or how to do "it."

Not everyone likes to jump straight into the pool. Some do, and then they turn to everyone else and say, "come on, jump in." I think that's you. Others like to dip in a toe, inch their way in. Most people are like this.

It isn't a sin against the working of God to prepare ahead of time. Ask several people to prepare a 15 minute teaching on a topic, or a passage. It would be ideal to take on a NT book and begin to have different ones bring a teaching from the first chapter (or paragraph) each week the next one and the next. Work to find and enjoy benefit from anything they bring that is good, and try not to be critical. In ceramics terms, this is greenware and it is fragile.

Not everyone will find great joy in this. But some will find that this work resonates for them.

Also, do a little digging about the use of open-ended questions. Maybe write down 4 or 6 or 10 open ended questions on 3x5 cards. Put them in a basket. Pass the basket around and let each person pick one and respond to it, and maybe open the question up for others as well. Then put it back in the basket, and let the next person pick one.

Is this artificial? Is the way that God manages every area of our lives and circumstances artificial because it is planned? It is a way to begin to get people to open up.

I'll tell you what helped me get started. I was asked to prepare something and speak. Not everyone finds that pleasurable. I did not! My first time, I spoke for about a half hour. I remember the first sentence, I went into some sort of scared-daze where I don't remember much until I sat back down. They said I did OK and asked me to do it again another time. After a few runs at it, I found I started to forget about myself and really enjoyed bringing clarity, making it understandable, showing how things can be applied, how they fit into our everyday life.

But also, don't underplay the ways people contribute by serving. Encourage the saints in these works as much as in the noisier, more visible things. Appreciate the woman who clean her house so others can come over. She often puts her heart into this. Appreciate those who help with dishes afterwards. Look people in the eye and say thank you when someone does some little service for another ("here, take my seat," "let me hold the baby for you"). Especially notice those who take second place, who say, "no, you go ahead, I like what you are saying" or "please continue your thought" rather than cutting others off (you may need to be especially careful of this, mr. pool-jumper-in-er).

(By the way, the politics and egos I saw included my own.)